Are You America's Fittest Man?

Prove you have the speed, strength, endurance, power and agility it takes

Mar 9, 2006

Men's Health is looking for America's Fittest Man (amateur's only please). Take the tests in The Five Pillars of Fitness. Copy and paste the form below into an email and send it to MHonline@rodale.com with the subject line "5 Pillars" and report your scores to us.

Don't forget to include a photo of yourself.If you're fit enough, you could be featured in a future issue of Men's Health!

IMPORTANT: Attach a photo of yourself. Keep the file size under 100k and no more than 300x300 pixels in size.

TEST YOUR LIMITS

Below is just the "test" sections from the complete article, The Five Pillars of Fitness. Read the whole article to get tips on improving your scores.

Speed You might say it's better to be fast than good. If you're too slow to beat your man, you'll never have a chance to showcase your skills. (Remember Damon Bailey? Didn't think so.) And for those short on talent, speed can level the playing field. But sports speed isn't just about maximum velocity. It's also about how fast you can accelerate and decelerate — that is, go from standing still to your top speed, and vice versa. And because every tenth of a second matters, even small improvements can make a major impact on your performance.

The 40-yard dash is one of the best measurements of speed and acceleration, which is why it's a highly regarded test at the NFL combine.

How to do it: You'll need a partner and a stopwatch. Mark off 40 yards on a track or grass field. Get into a comfortable stance — a four-point sprinter's stance is typical — and instruct your timer to start the clock as soon as you move. The clock stops when any part of your chest crosses the finish line.

Strength Whether it's turning on a fastball or posting up in the paint, pure strength is hard to defend. But size is only part of the equation — strength is more dependent on your ability to activate the muscle you have. Learn to tap the full capacity of your muscles and you'll become a dominant force in any sport.

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The squat was recently ranked the single most important exercise for sports, according to a recent survey of NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB strength coaches. "Squat performance is the best predictor of total-body strength," explains Hartman. The classic measure: the one-repetition-maximum squat.

How to do it: The safest way is to estimate it. Set the safety bars on your squat rack and grab a couple of spotters. Then load the barbell with the heaviest weight you can squat at least six times, but no more than eight. Lower your body until your thighs are parallel to the floor. (For a video demo, go to MensHealth.com/squat.) To figure out your one-rep max, multiply the weight you used by the appropriate conversion factor below; then add that number to your test weight.

Number of repetitions

Conversion factor

One-rep max

6

0.17

3 points: More than 200 pounds

7

0.19

2 points: 150 to 199 pounds

8

0.22

1 point: Less than 150 pounds

Endurance The fittest not only survive, they excel. The ability to resist fatigue longer than your opponent ensures you'll outperform him when you need that little extra, whether you're hustling after a loose ball, sprinting for the finish line, or driving hard for the last shot. The better your physical condition, the bigger your edge in every sport.

The 300-yard shuttle run is a great measure of sports endurance. Compared with traditional tests of stamina — a 2-mile run, for example — it better gauges the type of endurance that's required for most sports.

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How to do it: Set up two cones 25 yards apart. Sprint from one to the other, then back again. That's one repetition. Do six continuous repetitions, for a total of 300 yards, as fast as you can. Then rest for 1 minute and repeat. The slower of the two times is your score.

The standing long jump is one of the best measures of total-body power, says Shaw, because it requires dozens of muscles to fire at the same time.

How to do it: Stand with your toes on a line and your feet shoulder-width apart. Dip your knees, swing your arms forward, and jump as far as you can. To obtain your score, measure from the starting line to where the back of your heels landed.

Agility Think of agility as the ability to defy inertia. Because it allows you to change direction at any moment, to stay on your feet when you should have fallen, agility creates highlight films (see "Sanders, Barry"). But it's not just the domain of the genetically gifted. It requires balance, quick reactions, and body control — all skills that can be systematically improved.

How to do it: Set up cones or towels in the form of a T: 10 yards for the stem and 5 yards out to each side. Start at the base of the T, sprint to the top, side-shuffle 5 yards to the left, side-shuffle 10 yards to the right, side-shuffle 5 yards back to the middle, and then backpedal down the stem.

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